MARTINEZ — An Oakley officer was justified in killing a man who’d fired at police several times during an armed standoff, the Contra Costa District Attorney ruled.
The DA’s decision, announced Friday, was unsurprising in light of circumstances surrounding the the Aug. 25, 2022 death of 58-year-old Frank Correa. Called to the home for a report of domestic violence, the officers spent two hours trying to convince Correa to surrender peacefully, during which time fired “three or four volleys” at them, according to police testimony at Correa’s inquest hearing.
When Officer Brett Jackson saw Correa making another trip to the front door, where he’d fired from earlier, he asked his sergeant for permission to shoot. After receiving permission, he shot twice at Correa, who staggered back to his bedroom and later died from his injuries.
“Oakley Police Officers were advised they were responding to the scene of a reported domestic violence incident of an armed individual who threated to kill his girlfriend and himself,” the DA’s report says. “Dispatch further advised that the suspect was drinking for the last three days, and he intended to have a ‘shoot out’ with Oakley Police Officers. Officers responding to such a call would reasonably conclude that a potentially violent and deadly encounter may ensue.”
Correa had allegedly threatened his girlfriend and demanded sex at gunpoint, according to the DA’s report. She was able to escape and called police when he went to the restroom.
The report concluded Jackson and his sergeant, “acted with an actual and reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to defend against an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to themselves and others.”
The DA’s 41-page report can be read here.
Source: www.mercurynews.com